This invention relates to liquid containers, and, in particular, to a dual container which can store two different liquids and in which the contents of the bottles may be dispensed together or separately.
There are many products which are used together, such as shampoo and hair conditioner, ketchup and mustard, and oil and vinegar. These products are generally provided in two separate containers. Thus, the end-user must keep separate bottles together. For example, after shampooing, it may be difficult for a person in the shower to find a separate conditioner bottle. It is thus desirable to be able to store these related products together so that both may be readily available at the same time.
Dual containers, per se, have been shown in the past. U.S. Pat. No. 4,196,808, to Pardo, for example, shows a pair of containers which, as disclosed, may be bonded together or may be held together by shrink wrap. This provides for two containers which are either held together as a unit or are separate. The disadvantage in this is that if one container is emptied before the other, the emptied container cannot be readily replaced with a fresh container of the used product.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,194,426, to Brown, discloses a plurality of containers which are removably connected. The Brown containers use longitudinal dovetails to lock the containers together and a detent to prevent relative movement of the bottles along the axis of the connection. However, because longitudinal dovetails are used, the use of a detent to prevent relative movement of the containers is ineffectual. Further, because of the longitudinal dovetails oftentimes more force is required to join or separate the bottles than can be easily manually applied.